We were lucky to catch up with Jamie Corral recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jamie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Oh My Gelati is based off a small business that used to be located in a small town called Oak Grove. The concept of a “gelati” was made up on the east coast in Philadelphia. Fun Fact: Italian ice is actually called “water ice” on the east coast.
A “gelati” is Italian ice and soft-serve frozen custard layered together, Italian ice is kind of like a cross between sorbet and shaved ice–you get the real fruit and the artificial stuff, and its texture is smooth; it’s made similarly to gelato/ice cream in a big machine (we do that in-house). Custard ice cream is made with egg yolks and has less air churned into it, making it denser and creamier than traditional soft serve.
Since that little shop in Oak Grove officially closed in 2018, our little town was deprived of these wonderful treats that consisted of Italian ice and frozen custard. It was a successful little place that closed due to health-related issues within the family. I worked at that shop for the last 8 months that it was open, so I had a good relationship with the owner. I tried to buy the shop before they closed but were not ready to sell the equipment and give up on re-opening.
Two years later, I was able to purchase the equipment–this was mid-2019. The search for a spot to open my new shop began. I wasn’t able to open in the same spot due to contingencies in the lease. It was during this time that I realized I wasn’t going to be able to open a shop quite yet because COVID-19 was hindering the success of many, already established, businesses and the timing was not right. Fast-forwarding, I found the perfect little spot in Oregon City, and we were able to open up in January of 2022.
We had a very successful first year in business, despite all of our challenges that came up in the process. And I worked really hard to make this shop my own and to not rely solely on the success of that former business–I’ve improved recipes (which I did not receive in the sale), and I’ve worked hard to do proper marketing, etc.
So many people missed these delicious little treats and without that small shop in Oak Grove, my business would not exist today, and it certainly would’ve been more difficult to be successful.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi there, my name is Jamie, and I started my business at the age of 22. When I was 17, I worked at this little mom & pop shop in the heart of Oak Grove, Oregon. This shop sold delicious ice cream treats that were made up of Italian ice and frozen custard. Italian ice is kind of like a cross between sorbet and shaved ice–you get the real fruit and the artificial stuff; its texture is so smooth because it’s made in a big freezer that mixes it and freezes it at the same time. Also worth mentioning, it’s dairy-, gluten- & fat-free, so many folks with dietary restrictions can enjoy this product. I had to make my own recipes based on a general idea of how to make Italian ice, sources say that my Italian ices are more flavorful than most places–you might say I have re-invented Italian ice! And custard ice cream is made with egg yolks & heavy cream and has less air churned into it, making it denser and creamier than traditional soft serve. The two layered together is what a “gelati” is. Oh My Gelati is based on that little shop but the concept of a “gelati” was founded on the east coast many years ago. You can just imagine how delicious it is just by reading that–it’s not like traditional ice cream places!
So back in 2017-2018, I was working two jobs–the gelati shop and a pizza place, while also attending college. I was going to major in computer science but then the gelati shop was closing due to health issues within the family and I realized how sad this was making myself and others feel. With this turn of events, I finished college with my associates degree in computer science and my associates degree in business, with the intent to buy the old gelati business. That shop was a staple in our small little community, so I knew that I wasn’t the only one deprived. I tried to buy the gelati shop with the help of my parents before I was even finished with college, but it didn’t work out because the family wasn’t ready to give up on their little shop completely.
Two years later, I purchased the equipment, and the hunt started for a spot for my new shop. I couldn’t open in the same little spot because of contingencies within the lease, and the location was a little tucked away anyway. It was during this period that I made the decision to wait to open because COVID-19 was beginning and was affecting the success of already-established businesses, so I knew I had to make this tough call.
Another two years later, I opened Oh My Gelati in a spot up in Oregon City, Oregon. On the day of what was supposed to be our grand opening, just an hour before, we had a devastating flood that wrecked part of the shop. With COVID-19 already making it challenging to open and the fact that it was the dead of winter, this was something that I could never expect to happen. It took three weeks to re-open, and I was just glad it wasn’t longer. It seemed kind of like a sign, also. I had just had a minor surgery the day before, so it seems like the universe was telling me to take it easy for those three weeks and recover, especially because I was not responsible for doing the work to re-open–which allowed me to take the time I needed.
On January 29th, 2022, I opened my doors to the public. We had a very successful first year with only minor bumps in the road. Some of the challenges I’ve experienced from then until now range from choosing the right point-of-sale system to just making sure I’m posting on social media and bringing in customers. It has been difficult to do it all–administrating, operating, managing, etc. It definitely is not for the weak and takes a dedicated person to start a storefront like this, not to mention, also having a great support system in place.
I was lucky enough to have very supportive parents, who were in a good place to help me by investing in my future like this, they continue to see through the success and help me when I am struggling. If it were not for that little shop in Oak Grove and the support of my parents, Oh My Gelati would not exist today. Now I know my business is not perfect, but I feel very fortunate to have great people and customers who help me every day to make it better.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
When I first opened my shop, we started out with used equipment—whatever we could just use to start, like most small businesses do in the beginning. Where we stored Italian ice and custard cartons was inside large chest freezers, about 25 cubic feet each. We only had three and we only had the space for three, which meant that we could continually run out of freezer space and that posed an issue in the summertime. I was having to make Italian ice on a daily basis, and I couldn’t order as much custard as I needed to on occasion—I made it through two summers before deciding that I was not able to keep it up like this. I wasn’t able to take many days off, let alone take a small vacation. Feeling confident that I would be able to pay for a walk-in freezer, I took the plunge after a year and a half. At this time, I would not qualify for financing because my business was too young, so I paid for it out-of-pocket.
A walk-in freezer is not a cheap thing, although I did the best I could with purchasing what I needed for it at the best price. I had to hire an electrician to come do some work and I had to hire out help to set up the compressor on top, so all of these expenses were adding up. We had to shift around shelves and things at the shop to prepare for the new freezer, including also renting a storage unit to put extra things in it while we were operating at bare minimum, which was an additional expense. Leading into our cold seasons, I knew finances would be a concern. I ended up having to put $15k back into the business from my own savings account, just to barely make it through winter. Again, I was feeling confident that I would regain some of my cushion and pay myself back. But then 2024 was a break-even type of year for us. Along with all rising costs, our electricity bill pre-walk-in freezer was around $600 in the summertime and post-walk-in freezer had out electricity going up to $1000 each month, also due to rising electricity costs at PGE.
Overall, this experience has taught me a lot. It has been a struggle financially since this big purchase, but I can’t imagine going back to chest freezers. I now only have to make Italian ice 2-3 times a week in the summertime, which is a huge load off my back. We are able to keep up with the demand, even though we are not as successful right now. Eventually, it will pay off because it was a good decision, but it just won’t be an instant thing—we will persevere!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’m not quite sure if this demonstrates resilience, but I had a situation regarding my point-of-sale system that I learned from.
When we first opened in 2022, we started with a point-of-sale system (POS) that is well known—but for the sake of the company, I’ll refer to it as ‘Company A’. Company A has a good system and lots of features, but it became expensive. To save money, I did some looking around and I decided to go with another company that approached me. I ended up leasing a new POS through them as a third party. I had to sign a number of documents that I thought for sure that I knew what I was signing. I’ll refer to this company as ‘Company B’.
After a while, I realized that I was getting charges for this new equipment that were not being documented; on my bank statements, there were charges that there was no paper trail for. It was becoming ridiculous, so I thought again about switching companies. You guessed it, I went with a third company, ‘Company C’. Company C was offering the same system as Company B, however, they talked me into a different program. The new program was a cash discount program that a lot of places are now doing. I didn’t initially want to do this because ice cream is a luxury and I didn’t want to have to raise my prices on my customers again, not just yet. So, with this new system and new program, I decided not to raise my prices and just continue on for a while with the way things were, kind of—thinking that it was still going to be the cheaper way to go. Due to my own ignorance, this cost my business thousands of dollars. It wasn’t necessarily black and white when they were explaining the program to me, but because I decided not to raise my prices and I was still charging everyone the same amount, Company C was taking the 4% fee that customers would have been paying instead of the 2.5% that I was paying before. So, I figured out that I was actually paying at least 1.5% more on credit/debit card transactions than I should’ve been. All the while, Company C was supposed to buy-out my lease with Company B. And it turned out that a check bounced, and I was being charged for over 6 months for both registers and both programs, as well as the 4% fee for card transactions.
Some of this was out of my control, but through this whole mess, I was just trying to find the best system to go with for my type of business. I ended up finding a new system that has so many more features that work well for us. Essentially, I was just trying to do right by my business, my customers, and my employees and I had to learn a hard lesson and take a financial hit to do so. I am still trying to work out the financial part of things that was not my fault, but I can at least breathe now that I am not hemorrhaging money. We are persevering and recovery will take time, but it was something we had to go through to get to where we are. Looking forward to a great year in business this year, as it seems that all of our ducks are lining up!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ohmygelati.com
- Instagram: @ohmygelati
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ohmygelati
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/oh-my-gelati-oregon-city?osq=oh+my+gelati
